The Dark Prince
by HubrisP
Summary: Darth Marr finds himself set on the monumental task of training and guiding his son, a child with an important destiny, tied to the Sith Emperor and his Servants and the fate of the Sith Empire itself. His actions during the last years of the Cold War and into the Second Galactic Civil War, will be documented. Warning, mentions of Yaoi and M/M relationships, but nothing graphic.
1. Prologue

**Here is my little SW:TOR AU that happens during all the storyline, a storyline outside the canonical storyline, if you will.** **Enjoy. And all but my ideas in this fanfiction belong to Bioware and EA.**

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**3,659 BBY; Underground Ritual Chambers, Imperial Citadel, Kaas City, Dromund Kaas**

Darth Marr was unsure of what to make of the twisting Labyrinth that was located beneath the Imperial Citadel on the Capital world of Dromund Kaas and knew from historical records that Darth Nostrem had reconstructed the Citadel from the Emperor's original design and then the Emperor had cast Lord Nostrem – the only person other than the Emperor and his Hand to have knowledge of its underground pathways – into the Labyrinth to test its defenses, and then the Dark Lord had not been heard of since… but remembered as another Sith who was one of the greatest architects of the Empire with his masterpiece being seen from anywhere in Kaas City.

And now Darth Marr found himself walking these hallowed halls with only a member of the Emperor's Hand as a guide and couldn't help but fear, not just for his own life but the life of the sleeping two year old in his arms that his Mandalorian Wife had died to bring into the world, the Emperor had been insistent that Marr was to bring his toddler son and how was a Dark Lord of the Sith to deny a Sith god of his wishes and desires? So he was here now, with his son as he had been commanded, walking possibly into the hands of a deity-level Sith.

"Welcome, Lord Marr," announced a voice, and that was what Darth Marr literally saw, the Voice of the Emperor stood as in the human form he was back when he had led Darth Thanaton – the then Teneb Kel – to him nineteen year prior.

The Emperor stood just within the Chamber that stood at the end of this corridor and the room that the Emperor had apparently called him to, the Voice backed up into the room and motioned elegantly with a free hand for Marr to move deeper into the Room and soon the member of the Dark Council knelled down before a dais, within the dais was a deep spherical trench which Marr would recognize as a massive black marble bowl that seemed to be filled to waist height with a muddy blood color liquid. And Marr suddenly felt fear again, was this some sort of pool for rituals that included human sacrifices? Was his life forfeited or his son's?

"You need not fear Lord Marr, a bountiful boon awaits not a graveyard of despair," spoke a member of the Hand.

"What Servant Two clearly means, is that you worry for nothing when all the Empire wishes to do is reward you through your son while you bare witness," stated Marr's escort, evidently the 'leader' of the Emperor's Hand.

What Darth Marr noticed about the Emperor's Hand was that each of their number were Sith Purebloods and that could attest to their loyalty to the Emperor, he was Emperor of the Sith Empire and every Sith – Pureblood and not – within it, the hand were effortlessly loyal to their Emperor and so long as Darth Marr would be allowed to strengthen and forge the Empire through conflict, then so would Marr too be absolutely loyal to the deity of Chaos and Darkness before him.

"Indeed," stated the Voice, calmly "Exal Kressh too misunderstood what I intended to do to her, she thought I wanted to hollow her out to make her become a mindless drone, when all I seek is an Avatar to represent my will on this mortal plane for my ascension to Divinity or at worse… a successor to inherit my essence and to continue my legacy."

"The merciful and bountiful Emperor wishes to reward you for your years of service in leading and defending his glorious Empire, by choosing your son to be his Avatar and to one day lead the Empire to greatness!" announced Servant One, speaking for his Emperor.

"As he saw, through the visioning eyes of Twilight trapped in a Maelstrom," stated Servant Two, a pleased smile on his tentacle face.

The Voice motioned and Darth Marr answered as he grudgingly stood to his feet to hand his son over to the Sith Emperor who smiled blankly at his servant, the Emperor turned while hushing the murmuring child and then frowned when he noticed something on the child's face, already down two steps and already foot deep into the blood red liquid of the bowl which he took a moment to skim the face of the child that would in fact be his face one day and represent the Sith god to the Emperor's people.

"What is this… disfigurement, this… tattoo over his left eye?" questioned the Voice, a glare sent in Darth Marr's direction.

"A sign of Mandalorian respect, my Emperor," explained Darth Marr, cautious with his words "the Mandalorians tattoo themselves often, my Wife was Mandalorian and the last request she made was to tattoo him over the left eye, with the ancient symbol of their Destroyer God: Kad Ha'rangir."

The Voice of Chaos and Darkness chuckled to himself, "The God of Conflict and Destruction, personifying change and growth through the former mentioned traits, how fitting."

The Emperor said no more however as the Voice continued his descent into the blood red pool until he stood at its center and was waist deep, the twelve members of the Emperor's Hand stepped to the edge of the pool and began to chant the lines of the Ritual that there Emperor had long since prepared for them, soon the Emperor's Voice also joined the chant as a Force Storm wracked lightning about the room and the stone braziers suddenly had their flames turn a blue color.

All became silent and dark however, as the Voice reached the ending of his spell and dunked the toddler in a primitive form of baptizing as the flames quieted, drawing the room into a quiet and eerie, near darkness.

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**3,648 BBY; Training arena, Darth Marr's Estate, Kaas City outskirts, Dromund Kaas**

Ever since that day, Darth Marr had taught his son discreetly in the ways of the Dark side of the Force and had called him by the name that the Sith Emperor had baptized him with: Callidus, an ancient Rakata-Sith languages translation that was familiar with many species, it was a primal word but its meaning was obvious – cunning, the Emperor had charged Marr with making his son a member of the Dark Council so that he would be in a position of power to cunningly manoeuvre the Empire into a suitable position against the Emperor's enemies and have experience to take the Immortal throne the Emperor would leave behind after his ascension – to become the immortal personification of the Emperor's will in the mortal world.

Callidus had a prodigious learning streak and rapidly took in knowledge that was far beyond even someone twice his age, he seemed to have photographic memory and high speed adaption allowing him to learn that which had taken Darth Marr years as an Acolyte to learn himself, like his older sister Callidus had been experimented upon while in the womb and therefore he had been specifically 'designed' to be stronger and smarter than a naturally born child.

Darth Marr had been sure that his son had been 'enhanced' by a private biologist rather than someone from the Sphere of Biotic Science, as a Sith Lord he had to worry about rivalries among his fellow Dark Councillors and their own attempts to gain further power, Darth Marr had been told that his son would not be born Force sensitive and therefore when he was born extremely powerful in the Force coupled with the genetic modifications made to him in the womb became too much for Darth Marr's loving wife who had expired not too long after giving birth.

"He is impressive," commented Darth Decimus, from where he stood nearby.

Indeed Marr could only watch as Callidus danced between two of Darth Marr's apprentices, with one being Darth Lachris, bolts of Force lightning arched from Lachris's free hand but Callidus merely performed the feat of lifting metal floor plating into the lightning's path. Callidus simply used the distraction to Force leap over the piece of metal as the lightning projected it past where Callidus had been standing, before swinging his training sabre at her left side which she almost failed to catch on her own training sabre, Marr's second apprentice approached from Callidus's rear but Callidus managed to roll out of the way and catch the surprised apprentice with a powerful Force push.

While he was distracted however he was set upon by Darth Lachris, who bombarded him with Force lightning in the back but Callidus refused to go down, standing as stiff as a statue and using the immense agony of the lightning to strengthen his connection to the Dark side of the Force. Darth Marr decided to intervene however when Callidus channeled his power in the Dark side to generate blasts of Sith magic, abilities that he was sure that he had not taught his son to use, and Marr once again considered the possibility of the Emperor's interference in his son's teachings.

"I am going to have you put into a sink or swim situation, you will be subordinate to Darth Decimus and given the rank of Sith Lord," announced Darth Marr, as he looked down at his kneeling apprentice son "you will be known as Darth Callidus, prove yourself worthy and one day you will rule everything you set your sights upon. You will become King… of all this."

"Yes, my Lord" announced Darth Callidus, standing "I will do everything in my power to honor my mother's, Estha Mereel's, memory and the honor of Clan Mereel and fight for the Emperor's glory. I will bring terror upon the Jedi and the Republic, this I swear as both a Sith and a Mandalorian!"

Ah, how proud his wife would have been to see her thirteen year old son reach Mandalorian adulthood and be ready to make his own way out into the Galaxy, Darth Marr would watch over his son with the help of Darth Decimus and they would look forwards to the results of Callidus's training. The secret of the Emperor's plan for Callidus however, would remain secret between Marr, and those that had been within that room all those years ago.


	2. Chapter 1

**Mid 3,643 BBY; Modified ****_Harrower_****-class dreadnought: ****_Javelin_****, Command Bridge, Deep Space**

The _Javelin_, a Superweapon created by Dark Lord of the Sith Darth Mekhis before her disappearance while visiting the Vesla system and her pet project: the Sun Razer, the _Javelin_ was a heavily modified _Harrower_-class dreadnought that was equipped with powerful Radiation cannons and a state-of-the-art shielding and secondary weapon armaments, the vessel had been given to Darth Marr by Darth Mekhis as a gift to her fellow oldest Dark Councillor. And currently, Darth Marr was in an important discussion with his fellow Military leaders, the Command Bridge bathed in a blue glow with holograms before him.

"I understand that Intelligence has afforded us the information we need," stated Darth Marr, his arms crossed "Eriadu has withdrawn its support from the Republic; the Treaty no longer applies in the case of that planet."

_"Yes, a surprising feat given their stance against us,"_ announced Darth Decimus's hologram, with a chuckle in his voice _"the Republic protected it so valiantly during the Great War and used it as a supply line to the Outer Rim in the Galactic South, this is an opportunity we can't ignore!"_

_"I have prepared a fleet, but I have yet to give anyone the position of leading the fleet to conquer the planet. Despite this setback, I have confirmed that the Eriadu delegate has returned to the planet and therefore there is little chance of their Senator agreeing to regain Republic support in turn for defending his world,"_ announced Grand Moff Rycus Kilran's hologram, the man standing with his arms crossed at the small of his back, a relaxed pose often used by officers.

"I propose we send Darth Callidus and the _Regent_ to command that fleet," commented Darth Marr, and Darth Decimus's hologram nodded.

_"Lord Callidus is a specialist at naval conflict and planetary invasions, he knows how to bombard a planet without destroying it,"_ agreed Darth Decimus, the hologram's hand gesturing into the air _"unlike some Moffs and Sith Lords, who open fire at the first chance they get."_

Naturally this was the case with many rising Sith and Imperial commanders which had put a nick in Darth Marr's intentions to make usage of vital resources throughout the Galaxy, that being that many overzealous Imperials or bloodthirsty Sith would choose to use a planetary bombardment to destroy everything on the surface of the planet but thus left most of its importance rendered… useless, everything that Marr would have wanted to gain from that desiccated planet would either be destroyed or out of his reach for another few years until the planet stabilized its ecology to allow for the safe construction of a planetary habitat.

Eriadu was one of those worlds that should not be squandered like that, the center of economy and the last unconquered planet in the Seswenna sector, it would be a prize that Darth Callidus would paint boldly for the Empire and to insult the Republic over their petty weakness with Eriadu's government. Darth Marr had great plans for Eriadu when it came to the Galactic South, it had minor shipyards but at the same time it often produced Battle droids and advanced computer technologies, the minor shipyards coupled with the Starfighter production at Utapau would allow a fresh supply of small-to-mid sized vehicles in that area of the Galaxy which would be put to use by the Imperial Navy.

_"I have consulted Minister Shullis Khamarr, the Minister of Logistics agrees at the advantage of taking control of that planet,"_ announced Kilran's hologram, which had seemed like it was speaking mutely off-screen only a moment ago _"without Republic support, we will gain minimal losses in the occupation."_

"Very well, I shall make the request from Darth Callidus at your leave Lord Decimus," announced Darth Marr, looking towards his fellow Councillor's hologram "he is your subordinate, after all."

_"You may Lord Marr, after all… you can control him the best,"_ announced Decimus with a smug smirk, before he cut off his hologram transmission.

_"The Fleet is gathering over Hoth and the Republic is responding to the trap there, I must watch the curiosity the Republic is placing into our movements there,"_ stated Kilran, before he too cut off his hologram transmission.

Darth Marr calmly stood where he was while his private command bridge continued to buzz with electronic activity as it calculated the information that had been sent, the Black cipher continuing to decrypt the final moments of the transmission before Marr finally pressed a button on his display causing the strategic position the Empire was currently in under this rule of false peace to appear as a hologram, Sith infighting had been on the rise however discontent among Republic allies had in turn been on the rise leading to many withdrawing from the Republic and then choosing to either side with the Empire or stay neutral which in the former's case led to the Empire invading the weaker or more useful ones anyway.

About half-hour later, after finally agreeing that the information on hand was up to spec and that the Empire would only benefit from this invasion did Darth Marr finally act, with calm precision he crossed over to the Holoprojector and activated it before setting up a short distance call to the Bridge, the bridge answered and the _Javelin_'s captain saluted upon seeing his superior on the screen which Darth Marr waved away with a simple dismissal.

"Connect me to Darth Callidus," was all Darth Marr said.

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**_Harrower_****-class Dreadnought: ****_Regent_****, Commander's Quarters, Hutt space**

Darth Callidus was woken by an annoyed beeping of the Holoprojector on the nearby desk and got out of bed with a glower, his messy average-length snow white hair glistened as he turned the lights on with a flick of Telekinesis and his deep blue eyes narrowed as he walked barefooted over to his desk, he did all this whilst wrapping a robe around himself – a piece of clothing that he preferred not to wear – which he had hastily grabbed to cover his post-sleep nakedness and the golden-brown tan underneath. Callidus pressed a button on his console and was unsurprised when he saw that Captain Serant Vanes, the Captain of the _Regent_, did not flinch from his glare and attested this due to a decade of Imperial Intelligence training and dealing with Sith.

_"My Lord, you have a Black Cipher communication coming through from Darth Marr stating that it is urgent,"_ stated Serant over the transmission, and Callidus signed in annoyance.

"Send it through," announced Darth Callidus, as he sat back and placed a hand over his left eye, the eye tattooed over with the ancient Mandalorian symbol for the Destroyer God Kad Ha'rangir.

It took a few moments for the link to be fully established and then it took a few more moments after that for the Black Cypher to decrypt the transmission, in that brief time Callidus took it upon himself to have a yawn and click his neck before sitting straight just as the hologram of the fearsome Darth Marr rose out of the projector, Darth Marr was still encased in his body armor and it seemed that he hadn't changed an inch since Callidus had last seen him on Arcis.

"Good morning, Lord Marr," announced Callidus with a grin "what can I do for you?"

_"It is considered early morning by your time clock? My apologies, but the news I bring is important and grants opportunity for glory on behalf of our Empire and Emperor,"_ announced Darth Marr's hologram, hands on hips _"you may not have had noticed yet, but the Eriadu Senator and her delegation has had a falling out with the Republic, Eriadu has withdrawn its position as a member of the Republic Senate and has become independent."_

"Unlike the day before, today they are no longer protected by the Treaty of Coruscant that Republic membership allows," commented Callidus, understanding the implication of what had happened across the Galaxy "they are now open to be invaded by the Empire and you want me to lead a fleet on your behalf, to conquer Eriadu?"

_"Exactly, my son,"_ announced Marr calmly _"with every battle you fight will endear yourself in the eyes of the Dark Council, it will one day be time for you at ascend to a seat, and with you at my side on the Dark Council we will be able to make some much needed changes to the Empire."_

"One thing at a time, father," snickered Callidus as he stood, typing up his newest commands to the bridge on a datapad "if you send the fleet coordinates I will be sure to rendezvous with them as later today."

_"A Fleet is waiting for your arrival over Hoth with the call sign designation 'Hellion' and transmit the code I have just sent to you, they will then immediately fall into line,"_ announced Darth Marr, as he pressed something outside of his hologram _"and get some sleep, while on route."_

Before Callidus could wise crack back the Dark Lord of the Sith cut the transmission and with an annoyed sigh the white haired teen input the code that the Dark Lord gave him before sending the message directly to the bridge, Callidus then crossed over to his bed and threw off his robe before lying back down again, using the Force he once again turned off the light and smirked as bittersweet dreams of conquest.

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**_Harrower_****-class Dreadnought: ****_Regent_****, Bridge, Eriadu system**

The _Regent_ had met up with its fleet over Hoth and Darth Callidus had been impressed with the number of ships that he had gathered together on such a short notice by Grand Moff Kilran, two _Harrower_-class dreadnoughts, six _Terminus_-class destroyers and ten Imperial frigates. Later, eight _Gage_-class transports would also be added onto the Fleet's ranks which would provide the planet below with its garrison of Imperial Army forces, all that was required was for Darth Callidus to win control of orbit and gain a foothold on the planet below.

Darth Callidus was once again in his body armor hat had a stone-like Mandalorian iron Pixane and a Hauberk-like Cortosis-woven Armorweave mail shirt, he had Cortosis Vambrace and fingerless gauntlets on both arms but on the upper right arm and elbow he had the addition of a Cortosis Spaulder and spiked Cowter, his legs were covered with a Phrik-woven Armorweave Chausses with Cortosis Cuisses covering the thigh and Phrik Greave from the knee covering the lower leg and a Phrik Sabaton on his feet while the Greave and Sabaton were one piece of armor rather than separate parts.

"My Lord, everything is going as planned," announced Captain Serant, causing Callidus to roll his eyes.

"Oh, I can see that," stated Callidus with a sneer, as he looked down at the planet below and the ships standing between them and it "it explains that upgraded _Centurion_-class Battlecruiser or those eight _Hammerhead_-class cruisers standing in our way."

Naturally the Eriadu Defense Force was desperate to stop the Imperial Forces from invading their recently independent planet and naturally their efforts would prove for naught, Callidus had already predicted that some kind of defense would be armed against his invasion attempt and Moff Kilran also must have expected it since he gave Callidus quite a sizable Fleet or maybe Kilran wanted to show off the military strength of the Empire, Callidus did not care for the technicalities except that it had given him the resources needed to win this battle.

Callidus sat in the Command Chair on the Bridge, "Divide our Forces into three, have our fellow _Harrower_-class dreadnoughts each take two _Terminus_-class destroyers and four Frigates, harrow and squeeze the enemy fleet in from their flanks and see if you can bring that _Centurion_ to us!"

The battle began sure enough as one would expect with the eight Hammerhead-classes being bogged down in ranged conflict by their individual task-forces, and as to plan the _Centurion_-class was moving out from its fleet coverage to engage Callidus's task-force but it seemed… too easy, Callidus's smirk dropped when he felt a consciousness warn him from across the galaxy and his danger senses flared as the reached out in return.

"Drop bow, pitch angel twenty!" commanded Callidus, suddenly standing up.

His commands were carried out and just in time as beams from behind nicked the top of the Bridge tower and the location where the rear of the bridge would have been only moments ago before he had given the command, two Hammerhead-classes had materialized to the rear of _Regent_ and its task-force thus Callidus could not help but curse as the strategy being formed before him, it was obvious that someone of low birth and intellect was taking advice from someone of impressive skill and strategy.

"Sir, I have an interesting report from our spies!" announced Serant, as he moved away from a communication station "there is a mutiny aboard the _Centurion_-class, and there are riots down on the planet below, instigated by the Tarkin family."

"I see, so the Executive Officer of that ship is the son to the biggest rising politician on the planet we've come to conquer," claimed Callidus, as he sat back down "his plan was the one their Captain was using, but in truth his second and his loyalists were merely feigning his loyalty to the pro-Republican fleet before us, other than the _Centurion_-class the other vessels in this fleet were Republic 'defectors' loyal to the Eriadu government which were given the mission to defend the world until the planet returns to the Republic. Although, I suppose there would be no evidence that the Republic officially commanded this, naturally."

The Republic seemed to be using similar strategies on Empire owned worlds and that was an annoying attribute for the Imperial Governors of those worlds, it didn't help when some Governors – like the Governor of Balmorra, for example – were total and utter incompetence that caused more conflict than stopped and whetted their own appetite for shiny things, fortunately the Dark Council were contemplating sending a Sith Lord to take over the Governorship of that world and to once again regain order against the unofficially Republic-backed Balmorran Resistance.

"Sounds just like what has been happening at Balmorra," muttered Serant, and Callidus smirked.

"Send a boarding party to the _Centurion_-class with expressed assistance to Eriadu loyalists, they fight to defend their planet from Republican tyranny… and so it is the duty of the Empire to aid them," commanded Callidus, with a sneer "our comrades have entered orbit around the planet, have our two _Terminus_ destroyers target the _Hammerhead_-classes behind us, and send the all clear to our _Gage_-class landing fleet."

There were only three of the originally eight _Hammerhead_-class ships in orbit of Eriadu and they seemed to be taking a beating, and despite the element of surprise and fighting against their equals the flanking _Hammerhead_ ships were pinned down by the two _Terminus _destroyers, they would be unable to come to the aid of their allies or stop the descent operation onto the newest member world of the Sith Empire.

"And send a message to Darth Marr and Moff Kilran, I need to converse with them as soon as possible," announced Callidus, calmly.

Nothing could stop him now, Eriadu would become a part of the Empire but he would have to bring Kilran to heel again now and it was only justified, after all Callidus hated to be tricked but punishing the Grand Moff was secondary and this was because Callidus had sensed something from across the Galaxy. Something… had gone terribly wrong in the Empire.

* * *

**Say hello... to the Tarkin family's appearance. **


End file.
